The present invention relates to apparatus for assisting in the alignment of automotive components, in particular to alignment of wheels. The need for such alignment frequently occurs as a result of accident damage.
The invention is particularly relevant to front wheel drive automobiles such as those which employ a MacPherson strut suspension system and it will be described hereinafter with reference to this field of use. It will be appreciated, however, that the invention is not limited to this particular application.
Difficulties are encountered in working on front wheel drive automobiles and other vehicles having independent rear wheel suspension. In particular, problems are encountered in establishing the correct alignment of the rear wheel assembly since each wheel is independently adjusted. It is presently very difficult to check whether the rear wheels have their correct degree of toe-in and also that they are correctly in-track with the body. For example, they may be correctly aligned with respect to each other but their axes of symmetry may not be parallel with that of the chassis.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a piece of equipment which will assist in dealing with this problem.